Schedule Announced for @HerdMSoccer

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall men's soccer team has announced its 2015 schedule, including seven regular season home games and the Marshall Invitational, which runs from September 11-13.

Marshall coach Bob Gray, who will be entering his 21st season at Marshall (39th overall), said that the schedule will be challenging for the team and exciting for fans.

"Our fall schedule is a good balance of conference and non-conference games," Gray said. "We are happy to have three preseason games at home with 11 new players joining the squad. It's a good chance to look at them before our first road trip to Michigan."

"Our conference schedule is the bulk of our competition with many of those teams expected to be ranked in the top 20 again this fall. We are also excited to bring back the Marshall Invitational. We try to do one every other year and we will have four quality teams, including us, for fans to enjoy. We are looking forward to the fall. We have a big senior class and a big recruiting class and our schedule will be challenging as always."

The Thundering Herd will tune up for the regular season with three exhibition games at Hoops Family Field at Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex, starting with High Point on Aug. 17 at 7:00 p.m. The Herd will then face Salem University (Aug. 20 at 6 p.m.) and University of Charleston (Aug. 23 at 5 p.m.) to finish up the preseason.

Marshall will open the regular season on the road in Michigan, taking on Western Michigan on Friday, Aug. 28 at 4 p.m., before facing University of Detroit Mercy on Aug. 30 at 1 p.m.

Marshall's first series of home games will begin with the Marshall Invitational, which features dates on Friday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, Sept. 13. The other three teams featured in the Invitational are Evansville, Bowling Green and Robert Morris. Evansville and Bowling Green will play the first game of the Invitational at 5 p.m. Friday, with Marshall and Robert Morris playing the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. Action resumes Sunday with Bowling Green playing Robert Morris at 12 p.m. Sunday, while Marshall and Evansville close out the Invitational at 2:30 p.m.

Gray's team will then begin its Conference USA season by hosting regional rivals Kentucky on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 1 p.m.

The Herd will host four total Conference USA teams at home. That includes South Carolina (Oct. 2), New Mexico (Oct. 23) and UAB (Oct. 31, the final home game of the season).

The Conference USA Tournament will kick-off on Wednesday, Nov. 11 in Charlotte, N.C. The tournament runs through Nov. 15. Marshall advanced to the Conference USA Tournament last season, finishing with a 7-9-3 (3-4-1 C-USA) record overall.

Last season, Marshall went 4-4-2 in the regular season against common opponents from the 2014 and 2015 schedules.

Four teams in Marshall's 2015 schedule (Charlotte, Kentucky, Old Dominion and UAB) advanced to the NCAA Championships in 2014.